Defyant's Light Blade "It's still cool to air cool ! "

[Defyant]

Hi guys!

I'll try and condense it a fair bit as this mod has changed... a alot! internally.

The mod was inspired by the one and only InsolentGnome and his amazing G-Frame scratch build case mod. I was so impressed by the open design and pro work he did on this one i decided to have a go my self with some white plex and add some RGB disco for contrast.

The original idea was to WC but i'm not a hard tuber and wanted the challenge of making a air cooled pc...... cool again

The basis for the whole mod will be a frosted plex box surrounded with white plex blades for contrast. Then back lit with RGB utilising Corsair amazing new iCue software system and supporting RGB hardware.



The inner housing went through 2 design builds, the original was designed for a 240 AIO but then later redesigned and built just for air.


Original

MK2 for air

The difference is really only the tops and rears dimensions were kept the same.

The rear of the inner housing has a large 120mm open port this will line up with the air cooler and allow the air cooling the cpu to direct exhaust.

To help the air exhaust i made a custom port to channel the air better.

Next i could cut the outer blades. I started with 7 one template and 6 blades for the case....

But later added another 3 to make it 9 blades in total.

Next was to cut and remove the centres of all 9 blades... a first one was done then the rest simply profiled on
the router to get 10 exact copies.

The blades can be cut and hard glued using weldon to the housing. A couple of 140 Corsair LL's can be sat in for a look as well. Was very happy with fans perfectly matching the case.

It was at this point i decided to box the fans as well.

I also tried some contrast with tinted plex... but later decided the mod looked better with clear.

 

[Defyant]

The insides of the case are pretty simple... so i thought

Being basically 2 componants. A motherboard tray/psu cover and a front fan housing.


The next picture tells the whole story with out 10 extra posts.

From left to right. 1,2,3 and finally 4 being the final for the psu cover.

Number 3 prolly having the coolest lighting effects... but was just a bit too overkill for what i wanted...

In an attemp to tone it down a little i went in a different direction.

Still wanting a psu cover that would help direct air and add some rgb effects i took to the old plex bender to flex the plex!

To light the cut away areas some strips of frosted plex are cut and glued into the section to create some accent lighting.

Next is to addin the motherboard bracket system...

This is simply cut from some 10-12mm clear plex and routed drilled and threaded for the brass standoffs.

As this is basically a PC for the workshop hardware dosnt need to be the latest and greatest.

For now a z270i strix with a midrange cpu 8 gigs of ddr4 2400 and a CM HYPER 212 with a Corsair LL 120 fan swap and matt black paint. Storage will be via 2 x M.2's with a GPU tba. A 700W psu will supply power.

The brackets are weldon glued into place, this makes them kinda perm but thats ok as this case will always be a mITX housing.

The 700w SFX psu fits perfect with a little room on top to run wires.

With the MB in place a cut out can be added to the psu cover

This allows the PSU cover to be simply dropped into place. A hook lock will be added later to hold in place.

Next is to make the Fan housing and cover .....This will get the same RGB accent type lighting added.

The top section can be removed and trimmed

The cut away section will have frosted strips glued into place for the accent lighting.

The result is some pretty cool lighting effects.

The angle of the front outer edges of the psu were off so these where trimmed up and capped .

To fill the gap around the MB and cover a one piece setion of clear 12mm plex is cut and edge routed.
This will also work as an extra internal light feature. After the 24 pin atx cables are sorted this will be glued into place.

Starting to take shape.

 

[Defyant]

With most of the RGB stuff and internal mods out of the way i stood back and had a good look and decided the case could use a rear wing this is still now subject to change but i'm pretty happy with the look. Either way this will be a bolt on accessory.

It was about this same time that i also decided a rear air damm was needed!

I wanted this to also be a bolt on type accessory so i decided to make it from a single peice of plex.

This meant i would have to bend it.... this meant i would have to make a jig.....

The jig did a pretty good job with a bit of muscle work.

It was over to the plex bender for plex flexin action

I have temp glued this into place for now as it still needs some work.

This helps to give the case some stance and take away the top heavy look from just the wing.

Next updates will be pretty much the the home stretch for this mod.

 

[ZeqOBpf6]

This is awesome.

 

[Fritzz]

Friggin slick!!

 

[auntjemima]

I like this and I don't know why. Loved the pictures!

 

[Defyant]

Ty guys

Sorry for the lack of updates,


The lighting set up is run off a single Node pro and rgb hub... clean and simple. iCue controls the rest though software.

The Evo 212 HS is given a blast with satin black .

Hardware in and some cable management

I simple fan grill is made to plug the rear

Some good old centre spinners are added to hide the ugly corsair stickers

Last for this update is the inclusion of some side light blades,


These will attach to the outer side of the side panels and add extra rgb.

Testing the lighting with Corsair's iCue and Steam's wallaper engine and music integration


Turn the volume down

 

[Defyant]

Finally on the home stretch , Re design the side blades a little , added the magnets for the other side window put a base unit on for an up coming even and had some more fun with the lighting effects.

Remember please turn your volumes down

Heavy Doof





Bit girly

 

[Solhokuten]

Looks amazing. Nice work.

 

[FlawleZ]

Very creative and original. I may have missed it somewhere but what kind of "shop" is this for?

 

[PenGunn]

LOL. I do like these things as a spectacle. I am about to build a new machine and I will use the 24" tower from the 90s I have put all my machines in since my desktop PPro. Its big and roomy and I painted it red a couple of builds ago. I love this case and plan to never change it as long as ATX type boards will fit in it. It does show how long the form has lasted.

 

[harbingerofdoom]

i like this.

 

[commissioneranthony]

Hell yes man. Looks great!

 

[jeffj7]

Fraggin [H]ard !

 

[Soulmetzger]

I appreciate the craftsmanship, but having a disco dance party in my office isn't my thing.

 

[Burticus]

I like it. It reeks of effort.

Doesn't painting the heat sink fins screw with the thermals? I saw the unpainted fan portion, but that's just airflow area.

 

[Chris_B]

Very nice.

Could see a larger atx version of this looking good as well.

 

[Defyant]

Very creative and original. I may have missed it somewhere but what kind of "shop" is this for?

My work shop shed i mostly do head and tail light mods now with some custom sequential blinkers installs as well.

Every now and then i get the urge to bang out a mod..... Cant live in the glory days of past mods forever

I appreciate the craftsmanship, but having a disco dance party in my office isn't my thing.

Cheers mate My office is a disco party

Nice, blades and lights are a great combination.


Did this 15 years ago:

[snip!] ]

Hey mashie i remember you from back in the day, what happened to you? I remember seeing some of your stuff back then when i was doing the HP-Resurrection Case mods...

Bill over @ MNPC tech is doing a retro case mod series for his YT channel, you should check it out. Some awsome modders are popping up again from back then.

I like it. It reeks of effort.

Doesn't painting the heat sink fins screw with the thermals? I saw the unpainted fan portion, but that's just airflow area.

Cheers mate tyvm

The temps seem to be the same as before the paint, The HS i wanted was an all black one but wouldnt fit without too much modding.

Very nice.

Could see a larger atx version of this looking good as well.

Cheers mate tyvm , So can i

 

[iwhocorrupts]

Based on all of this, I am 110% sure you would be just fine at hard tubing. This is incredible!